TargetTalk

Hi, can any one tell me if they have some information on the Hammerli FP60 free pistol, I have not seen one in any competition but Hammerli makes good pistols or used to make them. The reason of my interest its because I am about to buy a free pistol and I can not make up my mind between the Morini or the Hammerli.

Any kind of information is wellcome.

Thank you,

Jigmeb.

Hammerli FP 60 is probably a good pistol,however until the merger between Walther and Hammerli is complete,they are going to be hard to get and be prepared to pay about $2,000.Having said that I personally think buying a Morini CM84e is a much better choice.It cost less,it's performance is superb and our host(Scott Pilkington) gives customer service- second to no-one.Ernie.

Understandably the lack of support for existing Hammerlli guns from the new Umarex-Walther setup has left a bad taste for many people.

They certainly gave the impression that they would be taking on the support for warranty claims but it doesn't seem to have worked out like that.

Hi, according to Larry Carter from Larrys Guns, Walther will give Hammerli guns warranties if you can prove some how that you bought the gun from a dealer and have some kind of proof that you are the original owner of the gun, that is what I read in their page, but never the less I think I will go with Morini.

Thank you,

Jigmeb.

Go for the Morini. I've shot a Hammerli (prototype), and it's quite heavy at the muzzle, more so than the Morini. Besides, I wouldn't trust the Walther Service department very far; they are not exactly known as the topshots in the business, and those last few people and scraps of know-how they got with Hammerli are not going to help much. I even think there is a probability that the Hammerli pistols are going to be discontinued altogether - the spare parts business is much more lucrative than building, selling and servicing (on guarantee) new guns, and the Walther boys had all the toys in their catalogue before the merger...

Tycho wrote:and the Walther boys had all the toys in their catalogue before the merger...

Well, they didn't have free pistols. From a marketing "synergy" point of view, it would make sense for Walther to discontinue the Hammerli semi-autos, since Walther already has the GSP, the new SSP, and the low end "target" P22, while the Hammerli SP20 probably brings with it major support problems. But Walther could keep the Hammerli free pistols in their line as an elite top end product, with the prestige Hammerli name. Otherwise, why buy Hammerli at all?

Remember, you read it here first :-)

FredB

You're right about the free, but how big is that market? How many 160's were sold? How many FP10's? And you're up against Morini and TOZ, a wall which not even Pardini could break down, not to speak of the huge market of good and reasonably priced used guns like the 150 series. I really think that the main reason to buy Hammerli (and here in Switzerland I've heard that several other companies/people/joint ventures were interested in that, too) was the spare parts business - there's no other company in the target pistol business that has so many guns in action worldwide. Remember the one about the sum of the parts being more than the whole thing?

Tycho,
If you are correct about the lucrative spare parts business, and DavidL is correct about Walther not supporting warranty claims, then that's a strange way to do business. It would seem that poor factory support would be the best way to get people to stop using their Hammerlis, in favor of other brands with good factory support. And if they stop using them, the guns won't need spare parts.

I have absolutely no insider knowledge about this - just trying to look at it from a business point of view. I'm sure you are closer to good information sources.

FredB

They may have missed the basic concept of it, that's true - instant and direct customer support... Problem is, the top service guys at Hammerli left years ago, and it was more or less the same at Walther. To get something from Hammerli was a nightmare the last few years, even for us here in Switzerland, and a good service culture doesn't grow back in a few months.

On the other hand, I think they got an awful lot of parts to sort through...

I know the guy who bought the whole spare parts supply for the older free pistol models (up to the 160) some months before the Walther deal went through. Actually, it was kind of a panic action, because some years ago the new economy powers that came to be at Hammerli decided to clean up the stock and among others binned all parts for the 240 series before anyone could intervene... so he got boxes after boxes of parts and a printed 2500 page list, and he's still working on making that database accessible by computer. And if Walther got something like that, multiplied by 10 or 20, they are probably very busy right now and for the immediate future...